Hi Everyone,
For those of you a little further back than we are, first of all don’t worry!
Whilst not necessarily an easy process, when I think of all the horror stories I’ve heard about Spanish builders and all that, in reality it wasn’t all that bad.
As for property management, I have some friends who run a company called Torre Property Services (TPS) (www.torrepropertyservices.com) and they are literally two minutes away from our complex which is comforting and useful when renting out.
Of course I maybe slightly biased but I honestly don’t think you can go too far wrong – they do a really good job on all fronts and they are fairly priced; neither cheap nor expensive. If you want to drop them an email, send it to chriss@torrepropertyservices.com and mention that Ian referred you.
With regards to completing, don’t let them force you into completing until you are ready. The advice I got from my solicitor was that most new builds take at least a few weeks if not months from actually being completed until being registered, therefore if it suits you then hang on till then.
If you bought through a company, remember that they also want you to complete as they will get their commission so they’ve got an interest in getting you to sign on the dotted line and hand over your money.
As for snagging, yes they’ll want your money and to give you the keys, etc. except for one set. You’ll then have 14 days after completion to complete your snagging list and then they say they’ll do the work inside a further two weeks though we had to come back so I can’t say if it has been done or not but that reminds me to get my friends to go and check!!
As for the grout, yes it was very tough to remove and we’re not done yet! Do they have a responsibility to make good? Yes but I think they basically play a no’s game – for everyone that complains and they have to do something, there will be another 4 or 5 who won’t and will do it themselves.
As per above, it could be that they have gone into ours and put it right but the look I got when I took my list to the Show Home told me everything I needed to know.
As for the furniture, I was pleasantly surprised – I expected it to be pretty basic stuff that would only last a few months and would probably need replacing in the not too distant future. However, beds were pretty good (we had no complaints) and whilst its mass production furniture it seems quite sturdy and as I say, we were happy with it.
What else can I tell you? TV – no doubt we’ll all want a few British channels. Originally it looked like being about 600 euros and then a monthly subscription of 15-20 euros which is OK if you live there but not for a holiday home. Anyway, we got a package for 490 euros with 10 UK channels including BBC1, ITV1, 2 Sky Movies Channels and 2 Sky Sports Channels plus a few others and there is NO subscription. For an extra 100 euros you can get 20 channels but we didn’t go for that.
For info just pick up one of the free papers (Round the Town, Coastal Rider, etc) and you are sure to see an advert and you can normally get it installed the next day. Dream Hills 2 also has pretty good coverage as well.
We haven’t put air-con in yet but that is something TPS have also branched out into and I think they will be doing ours in February. I reckon you might get away with one unit in the lounge as the cool air (or hot air if winter) will soon filter through the rest of the property, especially if doors left open or ajar. If a 2nd one is needed then that’s something you can add at a later date but why fork out for 2 until you know for sure that you need 2.
If anyone does need a place to stop when going over to complete – in hindsight I would have liked at least the first week stopping elsewhere just so had somewhere to put your feet up that was comfortable and you weren’t constantly thinking about all the jobs you had to do or things to buy – you’d be more than welcome, take a look at our website (www.dreamhillstwo.co.uk) for info.
If you look at the availability chart, you’ll note that mid-March to mid-June is down as unavailable as someone has enquired about these dates but if they don’t get back to me within the next 7 days I’ll be making them available again.
Hope that helps
Ian